OUR LADY OF LOURDES (OPTIONAL MEMORIAL)

He will strike at your head.

It had just happened. Adam and Eve had just disobeyed God and eaten of the forbidden fruit. As we saw in yesterday’s reading, they ended up hiding among the trees in the garden, trying to cover their own nakedness. How would he react to them?

Yes, God tells them the consequences of their disobedience: their relationships would be damaged, the landscape would become barren, and they would be barred from Eden. But amazingly, God doesn’t stew over Adam and Eve’s betrayal. He doesn’t lash out in anger against them. Instead, he makes a surprising promise.

Today’s first reading is often identified as the very first promise of a redeemer. The Church Fathers called it the protoevangelium, or the “first gospel.” It describes “enmity” (Genesis 3:15) between the serpent, which Christian tradition associates with the devil, and the offspring of woman, understood as Jesus himself. Even more, it prefigures the final defeat of evil—the crushing of its head, as it were—which Jesus himself would accomplish through his death and resurrection.

Back to the story. Adam and Eve realize that they have cut themselves off from the good God who had given them all the joys of the Garden of Eden, and they are afraid. But that same good God already has a rescue plan in mind. In the midst of their fear, shame, and grief, God gives them a cause for hope. Sin would not have the upper hand forever.

We all have experienced being brought up short by our sins or realizing the unintended consequences of our actions. But let the Lord’s words to Adam and Eve give you hope. After the Fall, God immediately unveiled his loving response to their sin. And he has fulfilled his promise in Christ. Now he renews that same promise to you every day. There’s not a moment between your sin and God’s promise to redeem you.

“Almighty God, thank you for rescuing me from sin!”

Genesis 3:9-24
Psalm 90:2-6, 12-13
Mark 8:1-10